"Battle in China 1932" Topic

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We did a battle on Saturday evening. 15mm scale. The action was set around a Japanese cavalry patrol that has been cut off while violating the border in North China in 1932.

The cavalry decided it was way outnumbered and took refuge in some very solid buildings so the Chinese set about evicting them.

The action was not a lengthy one. The Chinese covered the approach of their infantry with some intense maxim gun fire. One company of infantry took up places in some high buildings opposite the front of the refuge and added their fire support. Another set up in some buildings on one flank and also kept the Japanese under fire, but the plan was for them to assault their side of the enemy position once the frontal attack got underward.

While the Japanese were busy taking cover, two companies of Chinese infantry prepared an assault frontally. But the main thrust was to be carried out by a company of volunteer 'Dare to Die' Big sword men on the Japanese flank not under fire.

The approach went off without problems and the two attack companies charged across the street. Some Chinese attackers were immediately eliminated, but the rest reached the front of the building and tried to gain entry. The group previously firing on the wing also charged across the street. This kept most of the Japanese busy and the melee seesawed back and forth for a while.

As soon as the Chinese commander was sure the Japanese were totally committed to the front and one flank, the Dare to Die men emerged and attacked the unengaged flank. They were opposed by the Japanese HQ only and quickly fought their way inside, where they charged through the building and took the main door defenders from the rear.

A short sharp melee ensured, the door defence collapsed and the way was open for the Chinese out front to pour in. The Japanese had little hope of survival or retreat, so they dutifully carried out a Banzai charge in the main section of the building, and were quickly eliminated.

Rules were my own, that had been published in 1989 and the main reason for the battle had been to test out some of the math for new ammendments.

Interesting markings on the bases. I presume the marking that does not designate the nationality designates a unit, correct?

Wow! Great looking setup, scenics & figures. I like to see people tackling unusual theatres and conflicts.

BTW, I can recommend the book "Two guns Cohen" which is the autobiography of an East End (of London) boy who ended up as a Chinese civil war general. I'm not kidding!

nice looking game Mal… ;-)

So Mal, how did the torpedo rules integrate with the japanese defenders?

Great game and thanks for sharing – we ran a "Once Upon A Time in China" game at the club last year, in that case it was two Warlords (the Dog Meat General and the Warlord Chung King) against each other and a European force, French Foreign Legion and Shanghai volunteers – great game, won in ruthless style by the Legion whose use of artillery on friend and foe alike won them no buddies but lots of victory points – we used the Copplestone and Old Glory 25's – this game inspires me to finish off those Japanese infantry sitting in the "to do" drawer so we can have another China game!

The buildings/terrain is just great, too. Thanks for sharing.

Jim

Yes, very nice models, terrain & pics !

Interesting markings on the bases. I presume the marking that does not designate the nationality designates a unit, correct?

Yeah, there is sort of a funny story to that!
I wanted Chinese and Japanese designations for units. The Japanese were easy as I already had them in a book. But the Chinese involved some slick work with an interpreting tool on the net. Trouble was that I kind of forgot what meant what and how I achieved it in the first place! So while I think they are OK, I'm not entirely certain.

Great looking battle and terrain.

In the final pic, 'Japanese react…' , the top sign is upside down. The one underneath is right-side up.

Eh?
Do you mean the CHINESE signs?

Nice stuff and pictures. It sounds like you had fun too.

The signs are as Whatisitgood4atwork said. The top sign supposedly saying "military post" (兵站) is upside down whereas the first character of the other two signs (the one below and the red one saying "military government" (軍政府) in the other picture) use a simplified character in their respective first character, which you wouldn't really find in widepsread use until the 1950s and 1960s in Communist China. You might also consider arranging the characters top to bottom in some cases as well (both systems would be fine).

Thanks for the great pictures.

Mal find a bookshop, new or second hand and pick up an Oxford Chinese/english dictionary, solves all the problems.

The top sign supposedly saying "military post" (•ºâ‹) is upside down

Errr….ummmm….WELL….what do you expect?

It was a confused battle!

I use these two sites for all my Chinese character reference.
The first is an okay translation site, the second is full of hanzi goodness, including animations showing stroke order. Both sites give traditional and simplified characters.

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Use the first site to get the pinyin translation, then take the translation to the second for more about the character. Blue characters are simplified (post 1949), red are traditional, and black ones are common to both.

cojak.org

Zhu ni hao yun (Good luck) Unfortunately this machine is not loaded with Chinese characters).

btw, you could even put some shop signs written right to left. I still see quite a few of them, particularly when they use traditional Mandarin.

Hey! Very useful links. Thanks very much.